{
  "title": "AGENTS.md root instructions",
  "description": "Discover and apply the cross-agent AGENTS.md convention at repository scope. This is tracked as an independent compatibility claim.",
  "slug": "agents-md",
  "locale": "en",
  "seoTitle": "AGENTS.md root instructions compatibility — Can My Agent Use",
  "socialTitle": "AGENTS.md root instructions",
  "socialDescription": "Discover and apply the cross-agent AGENTS.md convention at repository scope. Unreviewed product cells remain unknown.",
  "llmSummary": "AGENTS.md root instructions is atomic and does not follow automatically from broader instructions support.",
  "audience": "Engineers comparing agent harness capabilities.",
  "contentKind": "feature",
  "status": "published",
  "tags": [
    "interfaces",
    "instructions"
  ],
  "updated": "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z",
  "published": "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z",
  "category": "interfaces",
  "summary": "Discover and apply the cross-agent AGENTS.md convention at repository scope.",
  "specLabel": "AGENTS.md convention",
  "specification": {
    "id": "agents-md",
    "revision": "living",
    "maturity": "published convention",
    "role": "instruction file",
    "authority": "specification maintainers",
    "canonicalUrl": "https://agents.md"
  },
  "aliases": [
    "AGENTS.md"
  ],
  "capabilityKind": "atomic",
  "parent": "instructions",
  "related": [],
  "relations": [],
  "highlight": false,
  "notes": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: OpenAI documents automatic AGENTS.md discovery from the project root for Codex."
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Cursor documents AGENTS.md in the project root as an automatically applied plain-Markdown alternative to Cursor Rules."
    },
    {
      "id": 3,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Microsoft documents automatic AGENTS.md detection at the VS Code workspace root."
    },
    {
      "id": 4,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Gemini CLI can load AGENTS.md through its configurable context.fileName setting; AGENTS.md is not the default filename."
    },
    {
      "id": 5,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: GitHub documents AGENTS.md discovery by Copilot CLI at the repository root and other standard locations."
    },
    {
      "id": 6,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Cline documents AGENTS.md as a detected cross-tool rule format at the workspace root."
    },
    {
      "id": 7,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Windsurf documents root AGENTS.md files as always-on workspace rules."
    },
    {
      "id": 8,
      "text": "Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Zed documents project AGENTS.md as an automatically loaded project instruction file."
    }
  ],
  "issues": [],
  "resources": [
    {
      "title": "AGENTS.md root instructions reference",
      "href": "https://agents.md",
      "kind": "spec"
    },
    {
      "id": "openai-codex-agents-md",
      "title": "OpenAI — Custom instructions with AGENTS.md",
      "href": "https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/agent-configuration/agents-md",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "OpenAI",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "How Codex discovers guidance"
    },
    {
      "id": "cursor-rules-agents-md",
      "title": "Cursor — Rules",
      "href": "https://prod.cursor.com/docs/rules",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "Cursor",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "AGENTS.md"
    },
    {
      "id": "microsoft-vscode-custom-instructions",
      "title": "Microsoft — Use custom instructions in VS Code",
      "href": "https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/agent-customization/custom-instructions",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "Microsoft",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "Use an AGENTS.md file"
    },
    {
      "id": "google-gemini-context-files",
      "title": "Google — Provide context with GEMINI.md files",
      "href": "https://geminicli.com/docs/cli/gemini-md/",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "Google",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "Customize the context file name"
    },
    {
      "id": "github-copilot-cli-custom-instructions",
      "title": "GitHub — Adding custom instructions for Copilot CLI",
      "href": "https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/how-tos/copilot-cli/customize-copilot/add-custom-instructions",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "GitHub",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "Supported instruction locations"
    },
    {
      "id": "cline-rules-agents-md",
      "title": "Cline — Rules",
      "href": "https://docs.cline.bot/customization/cline-rules",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "Cline",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "Supported rule types and where rules live"
    },
    {
      "id": "windsurf-rules-agents-md",
      "title": "Windsurf — Memories and Rules",
      "href": "https://docs.windsurf.com/windsurf/cascade/memories",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "Windsurf",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "Rules scope table"
    },
    {
      "id": "zed-agent-instructions",
      "title": "Zed — Agent instructions",
      "href": "https://zed.dev/docs/ai/instructions",
      "kind": "docs",
      "publisher": "Zed Industries",
      "evidenceType": "documented",
      "reviewedAt": "2026-08-28",
      "locator": "Project Instructions and Instruction File Support"
    }
  ],
  "support": [
    {
      "harness": "codex-cli",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "yes",
          "noteIds": [
            1
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current Codex AGENTS.md documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "openai-codex-agents-md",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "harness": "cursor",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "yes",
          "noteIds": [
            2
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current Cursor Rules documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [
            {
              "type": "host-role",
              "value": "claim is scoped to Cursor Agent in the desktop workbench"
            }
          ],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "cursor-rules-agents-md",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "harness": "vscode-copilot",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "yes",
          "noteIds": [
            3
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current VS Code custom-instructions documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "microsoft-vscode-custom-instructions",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "harness": "gemini-cli",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "partial",
          "noteIds": [
            4
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current Gemini CLI context-file documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [
            {
              "type": "runtime",
              "value": "requires adding AGENTS.md to context.fileName because GEMINI.md is the default context filename"
            }
          ],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "google-gemini-context-files",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "harness": "copilot-cli",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "yes",
          "noteIds": [
            5
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current GitHub Copilot CLI custom-instructions documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "github-copilot-cli-custom-instructions",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "harness": "cline",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "yes",
          "noteIds": [
            6
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current Cline Rules documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [
            {
              "type": "host-role",
              "value": "claim is scoped to the Cline editor agent and workspace-root AGENTS.md discovery"
            }
          ],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "cline-rules-agents-md",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "harness": "windsurf",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "yes",
          "noteIds": [
            7
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current Windsurf Rules documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "windsurf-rules-agents-md",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "harness": "zed-agent",
      "versions": [
        {
          "track": "current",
          "status": "yes",
          "noteIds": [
            8
          ],
          "target": {
            "kind": "dated-documentation",
            "revision": "current Zed Agent instructions documentation",
            "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
          },
          "environmentProfile": "local-default",
          "qualifiers": [
            {
              "type": "host-role",
              "value": "claim is scoped to Zed Agent rather than external agents or terminal threads"
            },
            {
              "type": "runtime",
              "value": "Zed uses the first matching project instruction filename in its documented priority list, so a higher-priority compatible rules file can supersede AGENTS.md"
            }
          ],
          "evidence": [
            {
              "resourceId": "zed-agent-instructions",
              "type": "documented",
              "observedAt": "2026-08-28"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "html": "/features/agents-md",
  "markdown": "/features/agents-md.md",
  "json": "/api/v1/features/agents-md.json",
  "body": "Discover and apply the cross-agent AGENTS.md convention at repository scope.\n\nSupport is recorded only when exact, dated evidence covers this behavior."
}